In the Media

The NFL's ongoing lockout has hung an ominous cloud over the state of the league. But while labor disputes have placed an obscure hold on the 2011 NFL season, Atlanta Falcons punter Michael Koenen spent Saturday, June 25, giving back to the Whatcom community youth on a sunny day of unadulterated football fun.

"Days like today bring it back to why sports is not all about business," Koenen said. "This camp teaches kids to compete the right way, and a lockout can't stop that."

Koenen, a Ferndale and Western Washington University graduate, has been a member of the Atlanta Falcons since the 2005 NFL season, and on Saturday, Koenen put on his free of charge third annual Michael Koenen All-Star NFL Football Kids Camp, much to the pleasure of many awestruck third to eighth graders.

The Bellingham Festival of Music has been bringing together principal players from major North American orchestras and exceptional musicians from other local, regional and national ensembles since 1993.

The talented artists, under the direction of artistic director Michael Palmer, form the Festival Orchestra, which performs five orchestral concerts Friday, July 1, through July 17 at Western Washington University’s Performing Arts Center.

The 24th annual Summer Lecture Series will begin July 6 at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

This year’s series, titled “In Touch With Nature,” will feature talks on environmental topics ranging from big cats to tracking.

Aug. 10: “Pacific Feast: Food from Field to Forest” by Jennifer Hahn, author and professor at Fairhaven College and Western Washington University.

Rianne BeCraft exudes youthful energy. The recent Western Washington University environmental science graduate has decided to bring that enthusiasm back to her hometown of Redmond, where she’s launching an effort to help Redmond become a Community Wildlife Habitat.

Rianne BeCraft exudes youthful energy. The recent Western Washington University environmental science graduate has decided to bring that enthusiasm back to her hometown of Redmond, where she’s launching an effort to help Redmond become a Community Wildlife Habitat.

Have you ever had to wait for a train at, say, Broad Street in Seattle, right by the SAM Sculpture Park? Or anyplace else along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks that hug the coast of Puget Sound?

Imagine roughly doubling the train traffic on that railroad. Imagine further that each of these new trains is a mile and a half long. That’s a lot of waiting at railroad crossings.

As part of Bellingham senior Matt Sanchez's culminating project before graduation, he taught soccer skills to a group of fifth graders and tried to share with them his passion for the sport.
After putting on a clinic throughout the season this spring and earning Northwest Conference Most Valuable Player honors, there might be no better high school player in Whatcom County to teach the finer points of the world's game.

Every five years or so, C Shop owner Patricia Alesse says she has to ward off rumors of a closure.

Although she and her husband Patrick have never considered selling their shop on the corner of Alderson and Birch Bay Drive, the two are flattered to receive so many phone calls from customers worried about them leaving.

“We even read it in a Bellingham publication, and we had to call them and ask for a retraction,” she said. “Still, it’s kind of fun that people care about it so much and they want it to continue. That the community supports us makes us feel like we do a pretty good job.”

Former Western Washington University distance standout Sarah Porter placed 10th in the senior women's 10,000 meters Thursday, June 23, at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships being held at Hayward Stadium on the University of Oregon campus.

Thursday, June 23, marks the 100th day of the NFL's lockout of its players - the league's first work stoppage since 1987 and its longest ever.
Like every one of his peers, former Ferndale High School and Western Washington University standout Michael Koenen, who has served as the Atlanta Falcons' punter and kickoff specialist since he entered the league in 2005, has had the professional part of his life put on hold.